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“Because I had a deal in place with my other investor, Tom Cheney. As a pre-IPO investor, he can’t sell his shares for 180 days unless he sells them to me, or unless they reach a thirty-five-dollar-per-share value. And guess what, even with Justin buying as much as he has, the value would’ve stayed low enough, but not with two mad men competing for every share and driving the price through the roof. So thank you for that.”
“How much stock does Cheney have?”
“He has 21 per cent. With my 30 per cent, it would’ve been enough to give the majority back to me, but now it looks like he’s going to hand it over to Justin on a silver platter.”
“Why?”
“Money? What else?” She looks down and sighs, her shoulders slumped. “I don’t know what kind of ridiculous premium Justin offered him. And you know what the worst part is?”
I shake my head.
“When they told me a second player was amassing stocks, the thought that it could be you never even crossed my mind. I trusted you completely, I thought you had changed, that we understood each other and knew that our respective businesses were off-limits.”
I can’t help but note her use of the past tense.
“And now you’ve made a fool out of me again.”
“Blake you’re the smartest—”
I make to go to her but she stops me with a raised hand, dropping her head. “Don’t.”
For the first time, I see the exhaustion seep through the cracks of rage and adrenaline. I want to go to her, hug her, tell her everything will be fine. But I can’t.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “What can I do to help you?”
Her head snaps back up with whiplash speed, her eyes narrowing. “Nothing. You’ve done enough.”
“Can’t we at least talk about this?”
I take a step toward her, but she backtracks.
“No, I need space.”
“Space to sort out your business or space from us?”
Gaze of steel, she says, “Both.”
“Blake, you can’t be serious. I love you, you love me. I made a mistake.”
“A mistake that could cost me everything,” she yells now, the façade of controlled fury finally breaking into outright rage. “I’d been very clear with you. I didn’t want you to interfere with my business again or do things behind my back.”
“I called you a million times and you wouldn’t pick up your phone.”
“I was busy running an IPO. And me not picking up my phone doesn’t give you the right to go out and buy 7 per cent of my company like it’s nothing. The company that I gave blood, sweat, and tears to build from nothing.”
“I can sell the stock if you need to drive the price down. I never intended to keep it.”
“Yeah, and give Justin the chance to gobble it up in one fell swoop. I don’t think so.”
“I’m sorry, I was only trying to help.”
“Well, you did the opposite. By competing for every stock you drove the price through the roof, making the price almost reach the free-for-all premium that would allow my biggest investor to sell to whomever he pleases.”
“I can sell all the stock back to you with an off-market transaction. That way Justin would be cut off.”
“I don’t have the capital to buy them at the current price, not if I have to buy out Cheney as well. And don’t say you’ll give them to me at any price because the only thing I need less than your help is your charity. I don’t want a handout.”
“What do you want me to do, then?”
